Page 19 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020
P. 19

PROFILE NEW LEADERS









                    H.E. Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera
                    President of the Republic of Malawi




                                           HIS EXCELLENCY Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera was sworn
                                           into of  ce on 28 June 2020 in Lilongwe, following his victory in
                                           the Fresh Presidential Elections held on 23 June 2020.
                                             Before joining frontline politics, Dr Chakwera was president
                                           of the Malawi Assemblies of God from 1989 until he resigned on
                                           14  May  2013  to  contest  the  2014  general  elections  as  a
                                           presidential candidate for the Malawi Congress Party, the oldest
                                           political  party  in  Malawi  which  was  in  the  forefront  of  the
                                           struggle for Malawi’s Independence.
                                             From 2014, Dr Chakwera served as leader of opposition in the
                                           National Assembly until February 2019 when he submitted his
                                           nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission for the
                                          second time to run for president in the May 2019 elections.
                              When the outcome of the 2019 presidential elections was nullif ed by the Constitutional
                    Court in February 2020, Dr Chakwera again contested in the fresh presidential election held
                    on 23 June and emerged victorious with 58.57 percent of the votes cast.
      16              Dr Chakwera was born on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi on 5 April
                    1955 to Earnest Person Chakwera and Mallen Mwale who were subsistence farmers.
                      He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) Degree from the University of Malawi
                    in 1977. He got his Honours degree from the University of the North, Sovenga, South Africa.
                    In 1991, he got his Masters from the University of South Africa. T e Trinity International
                    University in Deerf eld, Illinois, United States, awarded him a Doctorate in 2000 while the Pan
                    Africa T eological Seminary awarded him Professorship in 2005.
                        He  has  served  in  a  number  of  roles  of  executive  leadership,  both  in  Malawi  and
                    internationally.
                      He is married to Monica and they have four children and 12 grandchildren.
   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24